Method of producing color-type engravings.



of Producing Color-Type Engravings, which the following is a specification.

iT STATES P TEnT OFFICE.

FREDERICK fr. 'MONTGOME'RY, or CHICAGO,

METHOD OF PRODUCING COLOR-TYPE ENG-RAVINGS.

No Drawing.

to an improved method of producing colorbillboards,

plates of larger size than the originals, from which enlarged color plates I am enabled to obtain prints or pictures more accurately representing the original object in form and in color effect.

photography.

My invention effects a very considerable saving in time and labor and secures amore brilliant color effect in the finished work, especially in the reproduction of textile" fabrics, and a closer simulation of weaves and textures than can be obtained by the ordinary methods.

My invention may be' applied to the making of color-plates (for printing in two, three, or more colors for reproducing in natural colors photographic facsimiles of textile fabrics, especially for use as salesmens fcards, window hangers, posters for illustrated street-car signs, and may also be employed for producing colored supplements for newspapers, vertisements of various kinds.

p, I will describe my new process as applied to the" reproduction of the pattern and color effects of textile fabrics so as to secure a large colortype engraving suitable for sales- .mens cards or for advertisements, but it will be noted that this specific application of my' invention is illustratlve only, and that the precise method employed would be varied' to some extent when applied to' other purposes.

screens which suppress or modify all of the Imay premise that the originals of these color-plates may be produced by the ordinary process, which is as follows: The object to be reproduced, say,a fabric such as a woven fabric, for example, a rugor carpet, first photographed through colored primary colors except one and accentuate this remaining primary color. This operation is repeated for each of the primary I Specification of Letters Patent.

' negatives are made. are then transferred to copper-plates made This I accomplish by en-.

'larging the original plates by the aid' of and for adgeneral use.

Patented May 21, 1912.

Application filed January 11 1909. Serial No. 471,674.

colors, thus producing for three-color work for instance three negatives each having such part of the picture as is represented by its primary color. From these color filtered negatives positives are prepared, and from these positives half-tone screen These screen negatives sensitive to the light. These plates are'then etched, and in this etching process acid is used to give to the plates. the proper relief, and the etcher must of course attain the proper color values by accurately determining the exact size of the dot or line so as to give the correct tint in the plate, and when the three plates are thus prepared the object may be reproduced therefrom in colors. Heretofore these plates have been made as large as the desired picture, and because of the labor necessarily bestowed upon, the

plates by the etcher and finisher (the .same surface frequently being worked over three or four times and proofs made each time to observethe efiect of the labor). the pictures have been small. I have discovered a method whereby these small color-plates. may be enlarged economically, meaningthereby at a cost of not to exceed one-tenth of the enlarged plate if produced by the method now in general use, the enlarged plate being more perfect and thus enabling a closer simulation of the texture and coloring of the original than would be possible if itwere produced by the method now in my method "I take colorthe way above described than These In carrying out plates produced in or in any other method, of less size the desired picture or illustration. original color-type for photographing by filling the low parts with white material leaving the relief portions exposed and these prepared plates are then placed before the camera and enlargements thereof made by the' ordinary wet- "plate photographic method. The step of photographically enlarging at this stage of the method is important n that it cures whatever defects there may be in the original color plates due to the hand work there-' These negatives are then transferred .to zinc or copper'plates previously sensitized to light and etched for relief by the ordinary etching process. These enlarged plates are then ready for proofing in the primary color without the necessity of furplates may be prepared pressions representing the various colors,

may then be photographically enlarged to produce negatives which are then treated as above described inconnection with the use of the filled plate.

To describe the saving effected by this process, it may be stated that colortype illustrations for carpets, rugs, wall-paper,

and the like are usually of two sizes, first, the, catalogue size, which averages say 3%X4g, and, secondly, salesmens cards,

which are'about 9.'x1-2, these cards being carried by the salesmen and used instead of carrying samples of the goods. It is obvious that by the use of my process the labor of etching and finishing the original colortype plates is applied upon a surface of about 15 sq. inches, while the enlarged plate contains 108 sq. inches, and wby the use of my process this large plate is made more perfect than could be done by the present methods of production, and at an enormous saving in cost. 4

The herein described method of producing colored pictures of multi-colored objects, which consists in producing a plural ity of-impression plates of the same object, each plate representing a primary color of the object, manually finishing each plate,

producing an enlarged printing plate from each ofthe finished plates by ,a photographic transfer process, and printing a multi-color picture by means of the enlarged printing plates, substantially as described.

FREDERICK n. MONTGOMERY.

Witnesses C. C. LINTHIOUM, ALLEN W. MOORE. 

